With more and more people on the road than ever before two problems have arisen as a result, the first is that there is much more traffic on the road than ever before thanks to a lack of road development, making getting around tough, and the second is parking. Parking in cities like Boston for example are an absolute nightmare and sometimes the public transport links just aren’t good enough to replace driving altogether. Where there is a problem however there is a business idea and given the number of drivers who are struggling to park inside cities, a parking garage seems like a great option.
To understand better how to run a parking garage we spoke to the team at the highly successful Dock Square Parking Garage in Boston. These guys work day-in and day-out on providing parking for the people of Boston and here are their tips on setting up your own garage.
Safety
People aren’t just looking for a place to store their car for a while they are also looking for somewhere safe to store it. Boston has petty crime like everywhere else and that is why drivers want their vehicle in a safe place. With this in mind you must ensure that there is CCTV in your car parking garage and that there is constantly people around who will be the eyes and ears of the garage. If something happens inside your garage it can greatly damage your credibility.
Pricing
When you are putting together a price list it is important that you make it competitive with other garages in the area. If yours is the first garage in the area then you should look to charge around $10 per hour, and then add some package deals on such as $50 for the full day. Remember to charge less for motorcycle users and more for large trucks or pickups that will fill more space in your garage.
Timings
In many cities there are garages that open between 6am and 10pm but if you really want to get the customers in you should make it a 24 hour garage. In big cities people have all kinds of different schedules so you should try to make sure that your garage is accommodating.
Loyalty Scheme
Many people will be using your car parking garage everyday because of work so it is important that you keep hold of these customers. The best way to keep them coming back to you is to offer them a loyalty scheme. The way that the scheme works is completely up to you but you could give them 2 free days for every 30 or offer a discount on every 10th visit, whichever you think works best. These are the customers that you should really value because they will stay a long time, and do so with great regularity.
Whether you live in Boston or any other big city, the construction of a parking garage is a smart business idea to follow.
